bicuspid against my tongue
by Ms.Informed13
Summary: "Quinn learns Rachel's fingers by accident one day in class. They are long and thin, graceful from hours spent flying across ivory keys, but now they cannot master this simple action of spinning a pen and it's wickedly entertaining to Quinn." OR seven times that Quinn learns a piece of Rachel.


**A/N- It's been a while. I've had this on my computer for what feels like forever, but I had never finished it until now. This is seven times Quinn learns a piece of Rachel.**

 **Title inspired by the following quote:**

"Do you remember our first kiss? I do. Not a day goes by I don't think of the feel of that bicuspid against my tongue. It had such a distinctive feel, neither cuspid nor molar…but I'm not sure it knew that – that was what endeared it to me so. It was like the blunted tusk of a wild boar."  
― **Benson Bruno** , **A Story That Talks about Talking Is Like Chatter to Chattering Teeth, and Every Set of Dentures Can Attest to the Fact That No..**

* * *

The first time that Quinn Fabray sees Rachel Berry, they are fourteen. Quinn has afternoon cheerleading practice, and she is leading the charge up the hill in an exercise that Sue has dubbed 'Death Quest'.

The Cheerios run from the far end line of the football field, up the hill right next to the complex, across the top of the hill, back down, and across the track so they cover more than a quarter of a mile on each one.

Quinn Fabray is on her third lap and has overtaken most of the upperclasswomen on the squad. Now, as she crests the hill, Quinn catches a glimpse of the petite brunette.

Rachel is walking home. It's a warm afternoon, and she's wearing a short plaid skirt with a deep purple v-neck.

Quinn trips, literally trips. Her trainer catches on a loose root, and she goes flying. Her momentum brings her rolling all the way back down the hill. That first day, a week into her freshman year of high school, Quinn learns the smooth backs of Rachel Berry's knees.

Rachel, however, is behind the learning curve, and on that first day, a week into their first year of high school, Rachel only learns the flash of Quinn's ponytail as she disappears over the hill.

...

Quinn learns the freckles on Rachel's shoulders. They have sophomore year gym class together. Quinn's locker is sandwiched between Santana's and another brunette Cheerio. Rachel is at the bay of lockers behind theirs.

On the first day of the new semester, Quinn puts the shiny pink locker mirror Brittany had given her, magnets on the back, on the door of her locker.

When they change each day for PE class, Quinn watches Rachel peel her shirts over her head, or slip her dresses down her arms. She convinces herself that she is staring from a place of purely scientific inquiry. Quinn tries not to blush when she swears that Santana catches her one day.

Or the one day that Santana bumps the door of her locker, displacing the mirror. Quinn scrambles to grab it before it crashes to the floor, drawing eyes. Quinn swears on that day she feels the warmth of Rachel's eyes on her as she shoves the mirror into her locker without rehanging it, and storms from the room out onto the field for class.

Rachel has exactly four freckles on her right shoulder, and three on her left. Quinn likes to think of how if you were to connect all the dots on her left shoulder with slightly curvy lines, you would draw a heart. Quinn really wants to connect the dots.

...

In glee club their sophomore year, Quinn learns Rachel's throat. It's a perfect unblemished column of tan skin, and Quinn can't help but feel the urge to run her tongue across it.

She settles for sitting in the far back of the choir room next to Santana and Brittany, crossing her legs and arms tightly, and trying desperately to look anywhere else when the shorter girl sings.

Near the end of second semester when the weather finally warms up and long pants are traded in for shorts, is when Rachel and Finn begin dating in earnest.

Quinn pretends that she doesn't care, she hides her feelings like any good actress does. But she slips up horribly one day in the middle of Glee. The club is sitting, listening to Schuester drone on about his plans for next year and how great his set list for regionals the following year would be when Rachel's hand shoots up in the first row.

Quinn only half listens as the brunette says something about wanting to sing a song to express how proud she is of the team's improvement. The blonde only really pays attention when Rachel stands and nods to Brad who begins a piano intro for whatever song Rachel has prepared.

The first few notes flow freely from Rachel's mouth and Quinn sits back, crossing her legs as her eyes settle on the brunette's neck where they freeze on a large offensive hickey.

Alright, so it wasn't that large, and Rachel had put makeup over it, but it had worn off throughout the day, and Quinn could see the edges poking through.

She couldn't help the bile she felt rising at the thought of some Neanderthal marking and bruising Rachel's perfect skin in such a way. She didn't put any thought into how abruptly she stood, knocking her chair over and stormed from the room. She only paused when she was outside of the school and she bent over to throw up into a bush.

…

Quinn learns Rachel's fingers by accident one day in class. They have English together their junior year, and as a result of Santana's constant interruptions in class, and the teacher's zeal for assigned seating, Quinn ends up next to Rachel for an hour and a half every other day.

The teacher is lecturing on about Jane Eyre while Quinn spins her pen absently around her fingers.

She does it in this simple flicking motion which sends the pen around her thumb. It's a bored tick more than anything else, and she does it without even thinking about it at this point.

Quinn is mentally planning how she's going to avoid spending time with Finn after school (she has stolen him back from Rachel, and most afternoons find her on her back on the couch in her living room with Finn pawing at her while she comes up with some excuse as to why she won't go further with him) when a clatter from beside her draws her attention. Rachel is bending down to grab her pen from the floor where she must have dropped it.

The blonde ignores the action until it happens again three minutes later. From there on, she watches as Rachel tries to spin her pen in the same manner as Quinn had been doing. The singer doesn't seem to even realize that she's doing it, as her tongue is caught between her teeth slightly in concentration to the lecture.

An easy smile crawls across Quinn's face at how badly Rachel is doing with the pen spinning. Her fingers are long and thin, graceful from hours spent flying across ivory keys, but now they cannot master this action and it's wickedly entertaining to Quinn.

…

Her senior year, Quinn learns the clench of Rachel's jaw. There's this long muscle that runs from the bottom of Rachel's jaw up the side of her smooth cheek all the way to the top of her ear. It's stunning when she smiles, and when it clenches, Quinn wishes for a way to relax the strain.

It's been clenching a lot because Quinn is still in a wheelchair for now, and Rachel still blames herself for now. So whenever they spend time together and it takes a bit longer for Quinn to go places, or do things, the strong muscle up Rachel's jaw clenches, and Quinn does her best to make the brunette smile.

She cannot smile and tense at the same time.

When Quinn starts using her walker instead of the chair, the smile that Rachel gives her is stunning.

Most days Quinn gets on fine with her slow, old woman's pace with her walker, but the weather has gotten cold and the sidewalks are getting thick with ice and she's having a harder time getting around.

Her physical therapist says she can graduate from a walker to a cane.

Every day she walks around the block with her cane. The first time it takes her nearly an hour. The second day isn't much better. The fifth day she's about halfway around when she sees Rachel Berry jogging towards her and she quirks her eyebrow in an amused questioning look once Rachel is close enough to see it.

"I was in the neighborhood." Rachel says cryptically.

Quinn laughs but doesn't press any further. When they make it back to Quinn's house, she sees Rachel's car parked haphazardly in front. Each day from there on Rachel joins Quinn for her daily walk.

Quinn watches the clench of the brunette's jaw each time she winces with stiffness or when her cane slips on the ice. She learns how to replace Rachel's tension with a smile.

…

In their last month of school, Quinn learns the small dimples at the back of Rachel's lower back. Puck is holding a graduation pool bash for the glee club, the only rules are a two drink minimum and a strict bikini dress code.

Quinn is walking again, and her joints only hurt when it's cold. Though now she isn't walking, now she is laying on a reclined pool chair beside Santana trying to absorb as much sun as possible. The boys are playing some sort of water basketball game, and some of the girls are relaxing in the pool on blowup rafts.

Quinn sips the rum and Dr. Pepper mix that Puck had given her when he did his last rounds as a 'good host', and idly listens to Santana's complaints about her graduation gown clashing with the dress she wants to wear.

Her eyes are drawn to the opposite side of the pool where Rachel has just stepped out of the house and is talking with Kurt, her back to the pool.

"Aw shit." Santana says with a chuckle.  
"What?" Quinn asks, tuning back into her friend.

"Berry's about to get dunked."

Sure enough, Quinn sees Puck and Sam sneaking up on the brunette. Together they pounce, scooping her up into the air and throwing her into the pool on the count of three. Rachel lets out a small squeak as she flies into the pool.

She comes up with an indignant glare at the two boys and is out of the pool in an instant, berating them.

Quinn is distracted by the way the water droplets roll off the shorter girl's back. They flow down her shoulders and collect in the dip of her lower back. Quinn can feel her cheeks flush pink when her eyes are drawn to the curve of the brunette's ass, highlighted by an extremely well fitting bright pink bikini bottom.

"Close your mouth, Fabray. You're going to catch flies." Santana says, rolling her eyes at the blonde.

Quinn turns to glare at her, a retort already on the tip of her tongue but she is cut off by Santana, "Don't try to deny it, I've seen the way you've been drooling over Rachel for the last four years."

Quinn knows she could try and fight the accusation, she knows that Santana wouldn't believe her if she did. Instead she keeps quiet and resigns herself to surreptitiously watching Rachel.

When the sun sets and Puck makes a fire far too big to be safe in a backyard, they all settle around to roast marshmallows and talk. Quinn tries not to read into it when Rachel settles in next to her far closer than need be. She tries not to react when Rachel scoots closer and rests her head on Quinn's shoulder and snuggles into her side (Rachel says that it's cold though the fire is burning strong).

She tries not to let her hand tremble when she rubs her fingers along the brunette's back, tries not to notice the way the strong muscles ripple in a shiver beneath her fingers.

…

The first time that Rachel comes to visit her in New Haven, Quinn learns the smooth backs of her teeth. She gives Rachel the grand tour of Yale, it is only her third week of school and they get lost when Quinn is trying to navigate the science labs and wind up on a side street somewhere. They find a bakery and buy cupcakes that they eat while they wander back to Quinn's dorm.

The blonde's roommate goes out to a frat party and offer to bring them, but they decline in favor of a movie night in. Rachel doesn't hesitate in plopping into the middle of Quinn's bed, giving the her no choice but to sit in close. They make it halfway through Heathers before Rachel drops her hand onto Quinn's leg, her fingers draw idle patterns into the denim of Quinn's jeans and it takes all of the blonde's self control to keep her eyes on the screen.

A few minutes later, Rachel seems to get bolder as she slider her hand a few inches higher into dangerous territory. Quinn knows she should stop the brunette, knows she should say something, but when she chances a look over at Rachel she is looking at her with this uncertain smile.

"Do you want me to stop?"

Quinn opens her mouth, but the words die on her tongue and she finds herself shaking her head instead. The smile on Rachel's lips grows bolder and she sits up properly. She looks Quinn in the eyes as she moves in slowly.

The blonde's brain short circuits, she's dreamed of this moment more times than she would care to admit, but never once did she imagine it happening while Winona Ryder held a gun on Christian Slater. All the same, she is powerless to do anything more than lean in and connect their lips.

The kiss is four years overdue and now that they've started, there's no stopping them and by the time the credits on the movie roll, Quinn is flat on her back with Rachel on top of her. Their tops are long forgotten, and Quinn is daringly running her tongue along the back of Rachel's teeth.

Her roommate comes home around three in the morning, drunk and fumbling with her keys long enough to give them warning time to spring apart and dutifully pretend that they are sleeping. Yup sleeping, definitely not resolving four years of sexual tension with an incredibly heated makeout session.

Quinn is ready to spend the rest of her life learning the pieces of Rachel she has yet to discover.

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 **A/N- Let me know what you thought**


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